From Turkiye with Love: Turkish artist demonstrates his love to Baku through art

Turkish artist Devrim Erbil has presented his artworks in Baku. His personal exhibition, entitled "From Turkiye with Love" opened its doors at Heydar Aliyev Center, Azernews reports.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, First Deputy Director of the Heydar Aliyev Center Fargan Novruzov noted that the Heydar Aliyev Center has multiple art projects aimed at promoting Turkish art along with many local and international events and concerts.

"Our next project in this direction is Devrim Erbil's individual exhibition "From Turkiye with Love". The exhibition features the artist's famous art works. Some of them are exhibited for the first time at Heydar Aliyev Center. I would like to note that Devrim Erbil's paintings are kept in numerous museums and exhibition collections in Turkiye and worldwide. Devrim Erbil's art masterpieces inspired by Istanbul are recognizable around the world. Heydar Aliyev Center exhibits his art pieces devoted to the City of Winds (Baku) for the first time," said Fargan Novruzov.

The exhibition curator Renk Erbil expressed her satisfaction with visiting Azerbaijan.

"We have brought to you, the brotherly country, a lot of love and Turkish artists as well as the beautiful art pieces by my father Devrim Erbil. Therefore, we would like to express our gratitude to the Vice-President of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation Leyla Aliyeva and the Heydar Aliyev Center. The peculiarity of this exhibition is that the artist's most spectacular paintings and even those from museum collections are displayed here. There are even works depicting your beautiful city, Baku. We do not exhibit such a large number of art works anywhere and in any place, but because Azerbaijan, as the Erbil family, has a completely different place in our hearts, we wanted to show them to you by opening a large-scale exhibition in Baku," she said.

Turkish art critic, professor Kiymet Giray spoke about the artist and his exhibition in Baku.

"We are very happy to be here for the exhibition. We express our gratitude to the Vice-President of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation Leyla Aliyeva as well as everyone who helped and supported the exhibition. We express our gratitude to all the event participants who shared this excitement with us today. Besides being the most important artist of Turkish art, Devrim Erbil is also one of the most famous brush masters in the world. His exhibitions have been opened in many countries," the art critic said.

Turkish artist Devrim Erbil expressed his pride that his personal exhibition opened in Baku.

"Brother Azerbaijan, I embrace all of you with love. Not only your face but also your heart is beautiful. You warmly welcomed me and my artist family. I am eternally grateful to you for this. I have opened my solo exhibitions in many countries, but it is impossible to see beautiful people like here everywhere. They asked me if I would make a painting devoted to Karabakh. We suffered together, we felt it, but after seeing the place, maybe I will draw a picture of it. Although this is not my first visit to Baku, I intend to come here again. You will also come to my next exhibitions. We have been planning to open this exhibition in Baku for a year and it's great that we were able to do it. It is a great honor to meet the brotherly people of Azerbaijan at such an event in a joint space. I express my deep gratitude to Vice-President of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation Leyla Aliyeva and the Heydar Aliyev Center, as well as to everyone who contributed to the high-level organization of the exhibition. I have great respect and love for my brother Azerbaijan."

Then the event participants got acquainted with the exhibition.

Devrim Erbil is an abstract artist, who graduated from the Istanbul State Academy of Fine Arts.

The artist, whose countless personal and group exhibitions delight art enthusiasts in Turkiye and other countries, was born in 1937 and lived 60 years of his life in Istanbul.

While working in the art workshops of Bedri Rahmi Eyuboglu, Cemal Tollu, Cevat Dereli, the artist managed to draw attention to his artworks through group exhibitions. Owing to this, he was also awarded a Spanish government scholarship.

Erbil continued his artistic studies, which started in Madrid and Barcelona, in London and Paris.

The artist has been awarded multiple prestigious Turkish state awards, including the title of state artist, and participated in many international exhibitions and projects. The Museum of Modern Art and a Foundation named after him also operate in Turkiye.

In his art, Erbil pays special attention to the theme of nature.

He is the author of many articles and the organizer of numerous events across the world, including conferences and seminars. Devrim Erbil is also known for his active work on radio and television.

His personal exhibition at Heydar Aliyev Center will last until September 3, 2023.